Employees prefer to, if not dance, then certainly work like no one’s watching. In a September 2025 report, Gartner found that employees who felt “overmonitored” were up to 24% less inclined to stay at a company. Meanwhile, employees had 7% lower workplace engagement when they faced consequences as a result of their company monitoring their activity. You might think that companies concerned about employee retention and morale would curb their use of motivation-killing monitoring tools, but it remains popular: Almost seven in 10 (69%) respondents to the Gartner survey said their organization monitors them, with over a third (35%) reporting their company examines activity on work devices such as laptops and phones. Employers have deployed tools like computer monitoring software and geolocation services to track employee productivity and efficiency, performance, safety and health, and workplace security, according to a 2024 report from the US Government Accountability Office. (One cited research organization “noted that increasing remote and hybrid work arrangements had raised employer concerns of workers avoiding their responsibilities.”) Is Big Brother really watching you?—BH | 
